This truck was designed for use by the Japanese military, using mostly parts for civilian vehicles. Production began in 1936 and continued until the end of the war.

Sprues

• Sprue A(x2) - contains the parts for the wheels and rear suspension
• Sprue B - parts for the cab internals, engine and drive train
• Sprue C - frame and additional drive train parts
• Sprue D - parts for the truck bed
• Sprue E - contains the cab externals
• Sprue G - clear parts sprue

Construction

• Step 1 is the assembly of the frame, front fenders, and running boards. There are rather large ejector pins on the underside of the fenders (Part B25). As they are not usually visible in normal viewing of the model, they can be left alone. However, if you intend to enter this kit in a contest, you will need to make the effort to fill them. The frame has rather large mold lines and some slight shrink holes. The mold lines are visible during normal viewing, so you will need to clean these up.
• Step 2 is the assembly of the grill to the frame and the “engine” and exhaust pipes to the frame. There were no problems noted.
• Step 3 is the addition of the front suspension, front axle and front bumper. The mold lines are prominent on the springs (B28 and B29) and will need to be dealt with.
• Step 4 is the assembly of the rear axles and suspension. The instructions give a particular order to assemble the parts in and I followed them with no problems.
• Step 5 is the assembly of the rear towing pintle. This is a design that I have never seen before. The towing pintle is attached to what looks like two leaf springs attached together. From the looks of it, it appears that this would allow some flexing between the truck and the trailer. These springs have mold lines that are very visible when finished and need to be fixed before moving to the next step.
• Step 6 is the mounting of the rear suspension/axles to the frame and the drive train. The assembly order is used again and it works.
• Step 7 is the build of the cab internals. You may want to hold off on some of these parts until the interior is painted, then add the gearshift lever and handbrake.
• Step 8 is the mating of the cab interior from Step 7 to the frame.
• Step 9 is the assembly of the cab side walls and doors. On the interior wall of Parts E1 and E4 are some big honking ejector pin marks. You will need to spend a lot of time filling these marks as they are very visible thru the door windows. The two glass windows are to be added here. I masked off all the glass windows with Tamiya yellow tape and added the glass to all the parts where they are to go. Doing this will allow you to paint and weather with the glass in place, thereby not disturbing the paint job by trying to add the glass later.
• Step 10 is the assembly of the dashboard and mounting it to the frame. The instructions show that you are to add the instrument decal now. I waited until after the interior has been painted to add this decal. The hood is also added in this step.
• Step 11 is the mounting of the front wind screen and the rear wall of the cab. I had previously added the glass to these two parts. The front windshield is installed now, but I left the rear wall off till later. This will allow me to paint the interior without having to spray thru the windows.
• Step 12 is the addition of the roof and the door handles as well as the rear view mirror. Again I left the roof off as I did with the rear wall to facilitate painting. I did add the door handles, but left the mirror off as I have tendency to break these extending parts off during handling and painting.
• Step 13 is the assembly of the headlights and windshield wipers. The headlights are assembled, but I left the glass off to paint them before adding the glass. The windshield wipers have a tight enough fit that you can mount them and paint them in place. Remember that the windshield is masked off. Then after painting is complete, remove them from the model, remove the masking, then place them back into place.
• Step 14 thru Step 17 is the assembly of the cargo bed. If you paint pioneer tools while they are in place, now is the time to add them. If not, paint them off vehicle and add them at the end.
• Step 18 and 19 is the addition of the bed walls to the cargo bed.
• Step 20 is the mating of the cargo bed to the frame. I did not do this until I had painted all parts and was finished with weathering. This will allow access to some of the underside parts that are visible when finished, but would be difficult to reach if the bed was mounted.
• Step 21 is the assembly of the wheels and attaching them to the body. I actually assembled them first. The inside of the tires is a separate part and leaves a fairly large join mark. You will need to fill and sand this down as the inside of the tire is visible when finished. I had painted the wheels and weathered them off vehicle and added them at the very end of the build.
• Step 21A is where I finished the model. I painted everything in the Khaki-iro color. I added the decals to the dashboard. I then put a coat of Future on the model and after a 24 hour drying time I added the decals on the cargo bed and front fender. The following day I put on another coat of Future to seal in the decals. I then applied a filter and a pin wash to give a little bit of color variance. Once this was dry, I assembled the cab by adding the back wall and roof. The fit is good enough that no additional work was required. However, if your references show no line at that location, you would have to add filler and sand it smooth and then repaint that area. I then added some pigments to the body, bed and wheels and then placed a coat of Testors Dullcote over all areas (or over the whole model). The final step was to add the cargo bed to the frame and the wheels to the axles.

Painting and Decals

The color charts shows the reference numbers for Tamiya, Mr. Hobby, and Mr. Color. The paint scheme is for a khaki-iro. I used Tamiya acrylics and a 50/50 mix of XF49 and XF64 for a dark khaki color. There was no camouflage pattern shown in the instructions.

The decals have only Fine Molds as the manufacturer’s name. They appear to be in register and they went on without any problems.

Conclusion

The build is at an intermediate level with good detail. The molding is a mixed bag with no flash, but with some large visible ejector pin marks and mold lines. The detail in some areas is exemplary. For instance, the outer wall of the cargo bed has tie down hooks with bolt heads that are very detailed. But some areas such as the cab interior are very sparse and somewhat soft in detail. This could be due to the cramped vision lines when the cab is completely finished. I can recommend this kit to all WWII pacific theater modelers.

Thanks to Dragon USA for providing this review kit.